looking for reliable studies done on antidepressants, especially in regards to longterm, negative side effects
Question:
anti-depressants (Celexa) for 6 years. I am worried that the
anti-depressant is having long-term, negative effects on my body (such as
liver and brain). I have been trying to find some independent, reliable
studies done on anti-depressants to see what, if any, long-term side
effects there are. I have asked my psychologist, but he does not know. I
have also combed through medical journals, but I still have not come up
with anything. Can you please help me obtain some reliable information?
Answers:
wow.
Celexa is a seratonin reuptake inhibitor. These drugs have no known long-term problems on your liver or kidneys.
However, 6 years concerns me for your brain. The medical community is in the process of doing these kinds of studies now, but I have not yet seen anything published that's reliable.
There are recent published studies that show that antidepressants in general are best in the short-term, but actually hinder the treatment of depression long-term (3 months or more.) Those that used cognitive therapy did better on average by 5 months into treatment, and continued to improve, basically "cured."
The following is my personal opinion - see what you think.
I think that doctors over prescribe anti-depressants when no tests to determine actual brain chemistry are performed. There's no doubt that anti-depressants save lives, but with the new studies out showing that guided cognitive therapy shows such success, it really feels bad to be prescribing these drugs.
The body is also cause and effect. If you want to lose water, you drink more water. Your body interprets this as "water is plentiful" and dumps it's storage of water.
Likewise, when you introduce any drug into your system, your body begins to adapt by altering it's chemistry to match. Perhaps this is why the performance curves of antidepressants being to ramp down after 5 months...
I do know this. That if you decide to come off of this, you need to do so VERY SLOWLY and under close supervision. Let your friends know what's going on, and ask them to keep an eye out for anything fishy.
Hopefully, you're getting a psychiatrist, and a neurologists opinion. 2 opinions are better than one.
Welbutrin is good. Go to the website called "ask a psychiatrist"
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